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Homeowner cries foul over baseballs

Margaret Burke loves baseball. She keeps a 1990 All Star Game ball on display in her dining room. Next to it sits another ball signed by 1980s-era Cubs.

But not all baseballs are created equal. and Burke, 51, has filled boxes with ones she flat-out hates. There are more than 200 of them, each labeled with the date they flew over the fence at nearby Stars and Stripes Park and into her Southwest Side yard.

Burke, a Chicago police officer, said she has been hit twice by foul balls, including one in April 2002 that sent her to the hospital for five days with a concussion.

After seven years of battling the Chicago Park District and Little League officials to stop the balls from flying, Burke wrote What's Your Problem last week, looking for help.

"Sometimes I feel like a prisoner in my own home," said Burke, who moved into her house in the 5100 block of South Sayre Avenue in 1998.

From her kitchen window, she can see home plate--a stellar view, if not for the constant projectiles.

"I went to every Little League baseball game my kids were in. I loved it," Burke said. "But when I'm in my yard I need to feel safe, and I can't."

In 2003, Burke sued the Park District and Clear Ridge Baseball, the Little League program that most often uses the park, saying their negligence led to her injuries in the 2002 incident. That case is still pending. Burke said she e-mailed the newspaper because the lawsuit covers damages but would not force changes at the park.

Both the city and Little League officials say they have done several things over the years to protect Burke's home, including adding 10 feet to the fence around the park--raising the overall height to 20 feet.

Little League officials said they also reconfigured the field to move home plate, changing the angle of foul balls and reducing the number going over the fence. In addition, they put up signs saying the field should be used only by children age 12 and under.

Jay Derby, president of Clear Ridge Baseball, said his group has used Stars and Stripes since it opened in 1970. The program now numbers about 800 kids, about 600 of whom use the ball field during the summer.

"For us to lose that field would really be a blow to the kids," Derby said. "I don't think anything's going to make her happy until they knock [the ball field] down. Then where do the kids go?"

Derby said the measures taken over the last several years have greatly reduced the number of foul balls. He said he recently spoke to Park District officials about raising the fence another 8 feet down the left field line, further protecting Burke's home. Derby said he was told it would cost about $8,000, but that the district would not pay for it.

A Tribune Problem Solver called a Park District spokeswoman last week, who said she would gather information and call back. She didn't. A second call to the Park District Tuesday went unreturned.

The newspaper did, however, get in touch with the 23rd Ward alderman, Michael Zalewski. He said he would gladly pay the $8,000 out of his "menu money," discretionary funds for ward improvements.

"Eight thousand dollars is a small price to pay to solve this problem, in my opinion," Zalewski said. "If it would solve this problem, I'd be more than willing to do it."

Burke, however, balked.

The homeowner, who is on disability from the Police Department because of an unrelated injury, said that if foul balls can make it over a 20-foot fence, they can make it over a 28-foot one.

"I don't want them to upgrade the field because it is too close," she said. "They have tried to do this before and nothing worked or changed the problem. What we want them to do is to move [the] Little League permanently to another location."

Some of her neighbors agree. Juan and Cathy Villa, who live on the first base side of the park, said a foul ball once narrowly missed their 10-year-old son, Darius.

"I try not to be out there when the bigger kids are out there because it's dangerous," Cathy Villa said. "That park is just too small."

Juan Villa said the park is too close to homes.

"This has been brought to people's attention before," he said. "Maybe it needs more shouting for something to get done."

Burke said she was not told about the foul ball problem when she bought the house. Since then, she said, she has spent about $20,000 to protect it. She added an overhang to the garage, awnings to protect the windows and a wooden fence to stop people from coming into her yard for balls.

She said there are other parks in the area the Little League could use, including Valley Forge Park and Normandy Playground Park, both of which have ball fields. But Derby said only Stars and Stripes is properly configured for Little League.

"Little League has certain rules and regulations," Derby said. "That's really the only true Little League field in the area."

That doesn't impress Burke, who believes another accident is just a swing away.

Ideally, she said, the ball field would be plowed under and turned into a children's park with a jogging track.

"I know baseball is American like apple pie and all that," Burke said. "I like it too. But not this close to home."

What's Your Problem will check back for first pitch next season to see if the issue has been resolved.

THE PROBLEM

Little League baseballs have been hitting a nearby house.

THE OUTCOME

City and Little League officials say they can raise a fence higher.

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jyates@tribune.com

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